Today In Sports History 5/4

Our past has shaped present by many things in history including sports, here is how sports marked our history.

Baseball

• 1871 – First baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Fort Wayne Keiongas 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets first hit, a double. Bill Lennon becomes first catcher to throw a runner out trying to steal second.
• 1918 – New York Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Boston Red Sox’s Babe Ruth 5-4.
• 1919 – First legal Sunday baseball game in New York City (Philadelphia Phillies beat New York Giants 4-3).
• 1929 – Lou Gehrig hits three consecutive home runs, New York Yankees 11, Detroit Tigers 9.
• 1943 – National League’s Ford Frick demonstrates revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet; ball proves to be 50 percent livelier.
• 1946 – Washington Senators’ Cecil Travis gets six straight hits before being stopped.
• 1963 – Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of five balks in a game.
• 1965 – Willie Mays’ 512th home run breaks Mel Ott’s 511th National League record home run.
• 1973 – Longest game in Veterans’ Stadium, Philadelphia Phillies beat Atlanta Braves 5-4 in 20 innings.
• 1975 – In Candlestick Park at 12:32 pm, Houston Astros’ Bob Watson scores the major league’s one millionth run.
• 1980 – Chicago White Sox first baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Milwaukee Brewers, becoming first lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958.
• 1981 – New York Yankees’ Ron Davis strikes out eight consecutive California Angels, ran record of 13 strikeouts of last 14 faced, also saved Gene Nelson’s first win, 4-2.
• 1982 – Minnesota Twins’ rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich, who suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome, removes himself, due to taunts from Boston Red Sox bleacher fans.
• 1984 – Dave Kingman’s fly ball never comes down (stuck in Metrodome ceiling).
• 1989 – Junior Felix of Toronto Blue Jays becomes 53rd to hit home run on first at bat.
• 1990 – Baltimore Orioles’ player Gregg Olson sets relief pitcher record of 41 consecutive scoreless innings.
• 1991 – Cleveland Indians’ Chris James sets club record for most RBIs in a game (9).
• 1991 – New York Mets’ M Sasser and Mark Carreon are 8th to hit consecutive pinch homeruns.
• 1996 – Greg Pavlik one-hits Detroit Tigers making the Texas Rangers first American League team to pitch back-to-back one-hitters since the Washington Senators in 1917.

Basketball

• 1968 – First ABA championship: Pittsburgh Pipers beat New Orleans Buccaneers, 4 games to 3.

Golf

• 1952 – Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Fresno Golf Open.
• 1969 – Sandra Haynie wins LPGA Shreveport Kiwanis Club Golf Invitational.
• 1975 – Maria Astrologes wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic.
• 1979 – Jackie Mercer wins her fourth golf title 31 years after her first.
• 1980 – Hollis Stacy wins LPGA CPC Women’s Internationalional Golf Tournament.
• 1997 – Phil Blackmar wins 50th Houston golf Open.
• 1997 – Tammie Green wins LPGA Sprint Titleholders Championship.

Hockey

• 1969 – NHL Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadians sweep Saint Louis Blues in four games.
• 2008 – The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-4 in Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, eliminating Montreal and Canada’s last hope for the Cup this season. A Canadian team has not won the Cup in 15 years.
• 2008 – The Dallas Stars advance to the next round by defeating the San Jose Sharks 2-1 in Game six of Stanley Cup playoffs, in the 8th longest game in NHL history, with four overtime periods.
• 2008 – The Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the New York Rangers 3-2 to win the Eastern Conference in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup series.

Olympics

• 1924 – (to July 27) The Games of the VIII Olympiad are held in Paris, France.